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Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Movie: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai Characters: Anjali, Tina, Rahul Plot: It’s a movie about two friends, Rahul and Anjali, and their friendship ends because Rahul ignores Anjali’s romantic interest for him and falls for the new girl, Tina and they get married. Years later Tina dies, then Rahul and Anjali meet again, and this time Rahul falls for her. Rahul and Anjali are close friends in a undergrad college. Characterization of roles starts with a scene Rahul loses to Anjali in a basketball match. Chanting of “Girls can’t play basketball” in the background exposes the patriarchal belief of sports belong to only male but not female. This is a huge discouragement to women participating in sports as she is punished by getting mocked by Rahul after losing match with Anjali. It injects the fear that what punishment can be given for women who excels in a competition better than men. One more dangerous idea it endorses that “Girls play basketball only to get liked by boys.” reflects how men think that everything women do is just revolves around impressing men. It sets a dangerous precedent to boys/men who subscribe to these portrayals of gender. The movie demonises asexual friendships between opposite sexes, carries the message “every girl best friend that they will always be the last choice for their guy friend.” Rahul rejects Anjali and choses Tina as her romantic partner Rahul romantically dismisses Anjali for behaving as tom boy and having masculine fashion sense in favor of conventionally more feminine and sexually confident rival Tina. Looking at the character of Tina been portrayed, says boys/men will fall for women who wear shorts, needs make-up, toned-body and matches the societies standards of conventional femininity. After giving birth to a girl child with Rahul, Tina dies. The female conspiracy to determine the hero’s choice Tina: Tina writes to her daughter about why her daughter's life ambition is to unite Anjali-Rahul, without even talking to Shah Rukh about his romantic future after her death. grandmother: teaches that “men are very weak,” pressuring Rahul into remarrying because his child “needs a mother.” Rahul falls in love with Anjali after 8 years watching her play basketball in saree(conventionally feminine attire) It exposes India’s traditional and patriarchal society which places woman in a typical discriminatory place and constant gender policing, where she can be considered beautiful only if she appease herself to the male gaze i.e have long hair, wear makeup, either makeover herself into a traditional saree or dress and domesticated enough to become a marriageable matter. The entire film essentially talks about how Anjali had went through a make-over, more conventionally feminine to get impressed by Rahul, shattering her personal choices of fashion or choice of acting her gender in order to become more attractive and lovable. This movie carries a dangerous idea that only conventionally feminine women will be rewarded with love of life and any kind of other options to act their gender out of conventionally acceptable social norms, demonising the exercise of female agency. Rahul who dismissed the romantic interest of Anjali 8 years back, comes to her long after she had moved on, and lay claim on her like an ancestral plot of land. Rahul not being able to handle rejection from Anjali, goes to her wedding and emotionally blackmails her to accept him. Her fiancé’s final control over the heroine’s decision: The final decision of Anjali’s partner is decided to be by her fiance, but not Anjali exposes the evil form of patriarchy that a women doesn’t have choice to choose partner of her life, it’s always men should be holding the decision. Conclusion: Film’s underlying assumptions about gender roles are fundamentally counterproductive for both sexes. The plot gratifies female viewers, reassuring them that they are perfectly capable of beating men, but are forced to play the passive role by unjust, anti-tomboy romantic discrimination. It equally gratifies male viewers, reassuring them that they have the romantic power to discipline women into unthreatening beauties.